Portable power tools are utilized to reduce the time and effort required in freehand wood surfacing procedures such as carving or sculpturing. They can be used for sculpturing in various mediums other than wood. Portable tools are also used for decorative and finishing purposes, such as engraving and woodburning. Many different tools are available for this purpose, but they each generally comprise a cylindrical housing having a work-engaging tool projecting axially at one end. The tools typically are provided with a cord at their remaining end for connection to a power outlet, although they also can be battery operated. While such tools are designed to be held and guided by one hand, it requires considerable skill to move the tool accurately about a workpiece without external support. Guidance is particularly important to the user when carving letters, geometric figures, straight lines, or arcs and other design elements which require accurate alignment relative to one another. It is also important when planing flat background or foreground areas.
Movable powered tools having mechanical guides have been previously proposed, primarily for engraving purposes. An early carving machine with a movable element controlled by a handle is shown in Cottrell U.S. Pat. No. 144,745, which was patented in 1873. Guiding arms on an engraving machine were illustrated in a patent to Skinner, U.S. Pat. No. 285,695, patented in 1883. Movable guides for routers are illustrated in prior patents to Lloyd, U.S. Pat. No. 366,329, (1887); Carter, U.S. Pat. No. 1,638,086 (1927); Pfau U.S. Pat. No. 1,958,203 (1934); and Stewart, U.S. Pat. No. 2,639,208 (1954). However these patents do not illustrate a hand-held guide for mounting a portable tool for absolute freedom of movement in any direction to facilitate freehand surfacing about a workpiece.
According to the present invention, a rigid maulstick pivotally supports the portable tool. The maulstick is loosely supported along one side on a fixed guidepost so that the maulstick can be pushed, pulled, pivoted or turned relative to the workpiece. The portable tool in turn is pivotable with respect to the maulstick. By holding the free side of the maulstick in one hand and the portable tool in the other, the user is assured absolute freedom of movement for normal freehand use with the added benefit of a guiding frame to assist in maintaining the desired positioning of the tool at all times. The guide arrangement provides two handed control to assist in more accurately maintaining the required tool alignment relative to a fixed workpiece.
The principal apparatus disclosed herein is termed a "maulstick" in that it is somewhat analogous to painter's maulstick or "mahlstick", which is merely a wood stick on which a painter rests his brush for guiding purposes. While the portable tool is not rested on the present maulstick in the manner of a paintbrush, the guiding function afforded by the apparatus is believed to be aptly described by application of this term to the structure.